Hema-Bhambhani murders: Chintan Upadhyay says probe is prejudiced

Chintan Upadhyay said that he was made a “scapegoat” and implicated in the case by the other accused, who saw him as a “soft target”.

Chintan said that there was no dispute between him and Hema and that he had “no reason to get her killed”.

Upadhyay, who was arrested in 2015 in connection with the murders of his estranged wife artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani, has filed a writ petition in the Bombay high court, claiming that there were major discrepancies in the probe.

In his plea, which is likely to be come up for hearing by a division bench of the high court on Thursday, Chintan claimed that the crime branch’s probe was prejudiced. He said that he was made a “scapegoat” and implicated in the case by the other accused, who saw him as a “soft target”. Those who were guilty of the murders were being protected, Chintan claimed.

Chintan said that there was no dispute between him and Hema and that he had “no reason to get her killed”. The police did not take note of the fact that he was with his friends and associates on the day of the murders, read the plea.

Hema and Bhambhani were killed on December 11, 2015. Their bodies were stuffed in cardboard boxes, which were thrown into a ditch in Kandivli.

Chintan was arrested soon after and the police claimed that he had “hired killers” to carry out the murders. The police said that he hired prime accused Vidyadhar Rajbhar — a fabrication artist who he knew — and others to kill Hema. Rajbhar and Chintan met the other accused in Chembur to decide upon how to carry out the murders, according to the prosection. While Vidyadhar is still at large, the police arrested his accomplices — Pradeep Rajbhar, Azaad Rajbhar and Shivkumar Rajbhar.

In February, the high court had rejected his bail plea observing that prima facie there were sufficient material to establish that Chintan not only nurtured a grudge against Hema, but had also expressed in his personal diary, the desire to get her eliminated”.